Restoration of the Uchiha Clan
by north321
Summary: Sarada Uchiha wishes she was closer to her father. Sasuke has told her nothing of the Curse of the Uchiha or the dangerous powers that she has the potential to unlock. However when she is nearly killed, Sarada begins to question the history of her family and what exactly her father has been hiding from her. (Sasuke and Sarada father/daughter relationship, eventual SaradaxBolt)
1. Chapter 1

Sarada raced home, not even bothering to push up her glasses as they slipped down her nose. Her black, tidy hair blew out behind her as she ran. Once she reached the door to her home she hesitated. Quickly she patted down her hair, pushed up her glasses, and replaced her wide grin with her usual content, timid air.

"I'm home!" She called out, taking off her shoes at the entrance. She turned the corner into the living room, her excitement barely keeping her from running.

Both of her parents were sitting there, apparently waiting for her to come home. Her mother, her pink hair having grown a little longer in the past couple years, with an even brighter smile than usual lighting up her face. Sarada quickly zeroed in on the person she was really looking forward to seeing: her father. He had a more serious expression, but his lips still curved up into a small smile. Her heart swelled with joy.

"Father!"

She dropped her school bag on the floor and ran over to give him a hug. She didn't even care about her mother's warnings that he didn't like displays of affection; she just wanted to hug her father.

She hated it when he left on his missions. She knew that they were important, but she hated it. All she wanted was to spend more time with him... was that so much to ask? All of the other kids at the shinobi academy didn't get it. their dads were always there for them. The only ones who remotely understood her feelings towards her father were Bolt and Himawari. But even they didn't get it completely; uncle Naruto was at least loving and affectionate towards his children during the small amount of time that he did get to spend with them. Her own father loved her, and she knew that. She just wished that he was more willing to show it.

She glanced at her mother out of the corner of her eyes. She smiled softly and nodded in encouragement; she knew what Sarada wanted to ask for.

"Father?" She asked tentatively. "I... I've been working on my ninjutsu and taijutsu and I was just wondering... Could I show you some of what I've learned?"

Sarada looked up at him with a hopeful expression, but somehow she got the feeling that he was reluctant to say yes. It's not that he wasn't a good father. Sarada loved him more than anything and was always desperate to get his praise. But with him gone on his missions for weeks or months at a time, she barely got to spend any time with him. Even when she did get to spend time with him, she always felt that he was distant from her somehow.

"Alright," he answered after a long pause. "Lead the way."

Sarada turned to lead him out of the house and towards her training area in the woods before he could see the wide grin spread across her face. She had set up her training ground in the Western part of the Konoha forest, not far from their house. There were multiple targets painted onto the trees and kunais stuck up from the ground, evidence of Sarada's training.

"Okay, watch this," She said to her father. He stood at the edge of the trees, watching her, as she grabbed three kunais in each hand and stood at the center.

She closed her eyes in concentration. Taking a deep breath, she crossed her arms over her chest before quickly opening them again to move into action. She leaped up into the air, throwing two of the blades as she did so. Once airborne, she spun around, expertly tossing three of the remaining knives in different directions. With one last twist before she missed the ground, she threw the sixth kunai.

Sarada landed in a kneeling stance, with her palm on the dirt. She looked up to see how she had done. The first five kunais had struck their targets perfectly in the center. The last had missed it's target.

Damn! Sarada thought to herself, angry at her mistake. I always miss the blind spot.

Her eyes moved to her father's still form, still leaning against the same tree in the same position. He was silent and looking at her with a strange expression.

Sarada tried to ignore the burning feeling of the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I-I've also been practicing my fire style," she added desperately. Before her father had a chance to respond she turned away from him and took a big sweeping breath, filling her chest with as much air as possible.

"Katon!" Sarada released her breath in a hot wave of fire. "Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

A blast of flames spewed from her mouth. The fire was of an average amount for a ninja of her age, but she was mortified that she hadn't been able to show her father anything truly impressive.

He walked over and ruffled her hair. He tried smiling at her but it seemed almost forced.

"Good work," He said. "But let's go back. Your mother probably has dinner waiting for us." With that he turned and began to walk away.

Sarada clenched her fists. She was angry and disappointed. Partially towards her father, but mostly towards herself. She didn't know much about her father's past. No one would tell her anything about it, nor the past of his family. Even her own mother had been infuriatingly vague on the subject.

But even Sarada knew- mostly from times when Uncle Naruto unabashedly joked about the past when everyone else seemed too nervous to talk about it- how strong her father used to be. When he was her age, he was at the top of his class. Sarada was by no means weak, but she wasn't exactly exceptional. She was in the middle of her class. She was at least proficient in ninjutsu and taijutsu. But there was nothing special about her, not like her father. All she wanted was to be like him, but she barely even knew him. And what little she did know, she couldn't achieve.

"Wait!" Sarada called. "You always go away so quickly... Won't you train with me?"

He hesitated for a long moment. Then he turned around and walked back to her.

"Alright," He relented. "But just for a little while. It's going to get dark soon."

Sarada smiled widely and threw her arms around him in a hug. After a small pause he hugged her back.

"Let's do an exercise to test your ability first." He said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shining silver coin. "See this?" He questioned. Sarada nodded. Without another word he turned towards the forest and threw the coin a far distance away. It sparkled in the dimming sunlight as it fell.

"Go retrieve the coin." He instructed her. "A ninja must be perceptive and observant. This will help you develop those skills."

"Right!" Sarada replied. She rushed off into the direction that he had thrown the coin, eager to find it quickly to please him.

Sasuke sighed as his daughter disappeared into the trees. It was difficult for him to act fatherly towards her and he knew it. He just hoped he did a better job than his own father had. With a sigh he sat down in the grass to meditate until Sarada returned.

The Konoha forest was huge. After all, it wasn't called the village hidden in the leaves for nothing. Lots of leaves meant lots of trees and those trees were making it difficult for Sarada to complete her task.

She had been searching for a while now but she just couldn't find that stupid coin. The sun was almost down and the whole forest seemed to have an orange tint to it. Sarada adjusted her glasses, a nervous habit of hers. She knew that she should head back soon. Not only did she not want to disobey her father, but she knew how worried her mom would be if she stayed out so late. She turned back in the direction of her training ground, but then she saw it out of the corner of her eye- a bright sparkle in the middle of a leafy bush.

Unable to believe her luck, she rushed towards the glinting object. The sun must have hit the coin just right to make it sparkle like that, and just as she was about to give up too! She couldn't wait to proudly return it to her father and-

Sarada's heart skipped a beat as she pushed aside the leafy shrub covering the shining object. It wasn't the coin, but a kunai stuck in the ground, and the paper bomb attached to it was burning up quickly.

Sarada had just enough time to jump out of the bomb's explosive range, but the blast of it threw her backwards into a tree. Her glasses fell off of her face and before she could react, rough hands were holding her down. She could feel rope being rapped around her hands.

"Father!" She managed to shout quickly before a hand clamped down onto her mouth.

"Damn brat," One of her attackers muttered, looking behind them nervously. "She'll bring that criminal here with all her yapping." Now that she was no longer dazed by the explosion, she could get a good look at them. Although she couldn't make out any specific details with her blurry vision, she could tell that they were three average men, clearly ninjas from their clothes and the way they moved, but none of them were wearing headbands. They didn't seem particularly sinister for three men who would ambush and capture a little girl. If anything they seemed nervous but determined to finish their task.

"If you're so worried, then shut up and let's go," The one with a beard who seemed to be older and in charge of the other two said. "It won't take him long."

The bearded man picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, and then they took off through the trees. Sarada's heart was beating fast in her chest; she was terrified of what was going to happen to her. This wasn't supposed to be happening to her. She had heard all of the stories of the past where there were horrible ninja wars, and children fought and died. But that era was supposed to have ended before she was born. So why were these people attacking her? She'd never done anything that would warrant something like this.

Her hands were tied behind her back, but she kicked out with her legs and heard with satisfaction a breathless "oof!" as one of her feet connected with her captor's stomach. He only faltered temporarily though, and was quickly flying through the forest once again. After that he kept a tighter grip on her legs so that she couldn't do any further damage. She was about to despair when she looked up and saw a figure behind their group, chasing them through the forest and gaining ground fast. Without her glasses, Sarada couldn't clearly see but she didn't have to to know who it was.

"Father!" She called out again. The three men stiffened at her words and glanced behind them fearfully.

"Crap!" One of the younger ones said. The three of them began to run at an even faster speed, sprinting as if their lives depended on it. But it wasn't enough; he was quickly catching up to them.

As soon as he was close enough, Sasuke activated one arm of his Susanoo. Sarada's eyes widened in shock. Even with unclear sight she could easily see the huge mass of light and fire that her father had summoned and she couldn't look away. It was the first time that she'd ever truly seen her father used one of his rumored powers.

The Susanoo hand reached out to grab the man in the back of the group, but before he could do so the leader yelled, "Now!" One of the other men quickly performed a few hand signs and he and the man holding Sarada disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke muttered an angry curse; a teleportation jutsu. If only he had acted quicker! But he never would have thought that a weak group of ninjas such as these would have such a jutsu up their sleeve. Sasuke looked at the hand of his Susanoo. He had at least captured one of the men, who was now quivering in Susanoo's grip.

Sasuke brought the man close to his face. Without even meaning to, his Mangekyou Sharingan activated and the man cringed. "Tell me," Sasuke said in a voice implying his thinly concealed power. "Where you are bringing my daughter."

Sarada and the other two attackers appeared at another spot in the forest. It didn't look any different to her, but she couldn't tell exactly where they were without her glasses.

The two men were breathing heavily, both from exertion and fear.

"Did we lose him?" He gasped out. He looked up and seem to realize that the other young man was not with them. "Where's-"

"He got caught," The bearded man said, and the younger paled in understanding. The old man took Sarada off of his shoulder and threw her roughly against a tree. "We've teleported to the opposite side of the Konoha forest. It's a far distance away, but it shouldn't take the criminal long to find us."

"Stop that!" Sarada interjected. They both turned to look at her curiously; they seemed equally surprised and amused at her comment. "My father is not a criminal."

The older man barked out a harsh laugh. Sarada only frowned at him as he finished chuckling. "Oh, little girl." He said, almost with pity. "If only you knew."

"Knew what?" Sarada asked tentatively. After a moment she shook her head. "Never mind that. More importantly, what do you intend to do with me."

The man looked at her for a moment longer. "Alright," he finally said. "I'll give you the courtesy of answering both of your questions together." He pulled out the katana at his belt. Sarada hands began to shake slightly in their bindings.

"We're here to kill you." He explained. "You Uchihas are simply too dangerous for us to just let you exist in this world. I'm honestly surprised that Konoha hasn't come to the same conclusion by now." He shook his head in disapproval. "They first forgave the Uchihas after Madara nearly destroyed the world. He only tried to destroy it once again years later, and came closer than ever to succeeding. I had though that after that demon Itachi, Konoha had finally learned its lesson when it came to Uchihas and their wicked tendencies... But no." He glared at Sarada as if she were to blame for everything he was explaining. "Those Konoha ninjas... They pardoned that evil rogue without so much as a word against him. I don't know if they were just stupid or cowardly, but it's inexcusable either way."

The second man, who had been nodding along to his partner's explanation until now, added his own say. "The Uchiha clan must be ended once and for all!" He declared passionately. "For the good of the world."

Sarada had no idea what anything they said really meant. She had never heard of those names before- Madara, Itachi- and didn't know what events they were referring to. But Sarada could infer that they were basically accusing her ancestors of evil acts, and for some illogical reason wanted to punish her for their actions. It all seemed very unreasonable to her.

"So maybe some Uchihas were bad in the past," Sarada began, trying to placate them. "But I'm not! I'm just a young girl... I'm not even that strong! There's no way I would do any of those bad things."

"Perhaps you are weak and good now," The older man replied. "But not for long. You are an Uchiha; you will gain power, and as you gain power you will inevitably be tainted by evil. It is your clan's curse." Sarada eyed the sword in his hand. He moved it as he spoke, too caught up in his hand gestures to remember the weapon he held. For now, he didn't move to attack her with it, but it would only be a matter of time.

"We're not stupid; we know that we don't stand a chance against Sasuke Uchiha. He is too strong. However, there is still a way to accomplish our goal." His mouth twisted into a disturbing smile that made Sarada not want to hear what he was going to say next. "It's simple. All we have to do is kill all of Sasuke Uchiha's children before they have a chance to become powerful. That much we can manage. That way when Sasuke dies, the Uchihas die with him- and we won't even have to fight him!" Sarada waited for him to go on, but this seemed to be the conclusion of his little speech. She felt simultaneously disgusted and terrified; these people were obviously crazy and had no idea what they were talking about. But what could she do to stop them from killing her?

The man lifted his sword into an actual fighting grip and walked to stand in front of her. He lowered it so that the tip pointed in the direction of her chest.

"Please, no..!" Sarada pleaded desperately. Her vision began to go even more blurry, probably due to the tears in her eyes.

The man merely smirked "I almost feel sorry for you, Uchiha girl." He stated and plunged his sword forward.

The superior grin stayed on his face for a split second longer, until he realized that he hadn't stabbed Sarada as he had intended. In the split second before the sword reached her, she had slid down the trunk of the tree and raised her hands up. The sword had cut through her restraints, freeing her.

The man watched her movements in shock. How did she have such good reflexes at such a young age? But he got his answers when Sarada slowly opened her eyes: they were pure red, the pupils surrounded by black dots.

As quick as a flash she flung out a leg and landed a kick squarely in the man's chest. He flew back a few steps, landing flat on his back. Sarada withdrew his sword from where it had been stuck in the tree and lunged forward, piercing him threw the chest.

"Don't you dare insult the Uchihas," Sarada stated calmly, her eyes narrowed as the life went out of his eyes.

The whole thing had happened too fast for the last remaining attacker to react, but now he got a hold of his senses!

"Y-you damned Uchiha!" He yelled, drawing the sword from his own belt and running forward to clash it against Sarada's. "You demon! Wretched, cursed girl!" He kept on scremaing at insults as they parried back and forth. Sarada tried not to let them get to her so she could focus on the fight, but it was difficult. She was a mere twelve year old girl. This man was much larger and stronger, and clearly had more training with a sword than she. He used this to his advantage and kept pushing her backwards.

At last he overpowered her, as Sarada fell to the ground, her sword knocked away.

He raised his sword over his head to deliver the final blow, a triumphant look on his face. But Sarada had one more trick up her sleeve.

"Katon!" She shouted. "Goukakyuu no jutsu!" A large column of fire shot towards the man, blowing him backwards and burning the arms that he'd reflexively used to cover his face. Sarada quickly drew a kunai she still had stashed in her clothes from training and hit him in a vital spot. As she withdrew the blade, he fell to the ground, dead.

Sarada was breathing heavily. She dropped the kunai and fell to her knees. What had just happened? She had just taken out two ninja who were not only much more experienced than her, but much stronger too. What Sarada didn't understand was how... Her strength and reflexes shouldn't have been good enough to beat them. The nerves that she hadn't had in the heat of battle finally made their way into her, filling her thoughts with fear and confusion.

Her hand habitually went to push up her glasses, but she only poked her own forehead. That's right- she had lost her glasses back before the men had teleported away with her. Her thoughts turned towards finding her glasses. She wouldn't be able to see without them and her mom would be so mad if she lost this pair-

Sarada froze and slowly blinked her eyes. She could see perfectly now, she slowly realized. She could see the details of every tree, every blade of grass around her. It was incredible. Even with the aid of her glasses she had never been able to see this well before.

She slowly stood up. Her knees shook slightly but she managed to walk over to a small pool that was nearby. She leaned over the edge to look at her reflection. She peered closer to the water, staring at her own eyes, and saw them widen in shock at what she observed. Her eyes were... strange. They weren't her usual black, simple eyes, but red ones with black marks inside. Frankly, they creeped her out.

Before she had a chance to think more on this unusual occurrence, a figure burst through the trees. But even without perfect vision, she would know who it was.

"Father!" She cried out, running forward to hug him. This time he hugged her back without hesitation. "Father, I'm so glad you're here."

"Are you alright?" He asked, pulling back to look at her. "How did you-" His voice caught in his throat as he got a good look at her face and Sarada knew what he was seeing. Those strange eyes; perhaps he was as afraid of them as those other two men had been. But from his expression she couldn't tell anything of what he was thinking or feeling.

Finally he took his eyes away from hers and noticed the two dead men on the ground behind her. And the blood on her hands. Sarada heard him mutter a curse under his breath, but he didn't sound angry. He sounded sad and... scared, almost.

"Father?" Sarada tugged on his sleeve tentatively. Wa she mad at her for killing those men? Was he afraid of her violent side? Or was he disappointed that, like the men had predicted, she had succumbed to her darker side?

Whatever it was, she couldn't tell. She didn't see his face as he quickly grabbed her hand and led her back through the forest.

"We're going home now," He said calmly. "And then we have some things to discuss."


	2. Chapter 2

**I really just want to thank every single person who reviewed, alerted, favorited, or read this fanfiction at all. I wasn't expecting it but it made me smile. :)**

**I'm a big fanfiction reader but I've never really written one before. But after chapter 699 and 700 I was dying of Naruto feels due to the fact that ALL OF MY FREAKING SHIPS BECAME CANON and I just had to let them out through writing. :P**

**But seriously, thank you guys so much for your support. I absolutely love reading reviews and it really motivates me to write more. After today, expect chapter updates about once a week, probably on weekends. You guys earned yourself a quick update this time so here's the next chapter! ;) **

Sarada sat across from her father in the living room of their home. It was uncomfortably silent, just as it had been through the whole walk home. Sometime on their way back Sarada's usual blurry vision had returned. When he'd glanced back at her he wordlessly handed her her glasses. She thanked him quietly, and that had been the only word spoken between them. Sarada just wished he would get on with his explanation already.

"Do you know why those men attacked you?" He finally asked, breaking the silence.

The answer wasn't as simple as yes or no. The men had explained their reasoning to her, and she had understood the gist of it: they thought all Uchihas were evil, so they wanted to kill them all.

The thing that she didn't understand was the evidence that they had used to back up that claim. Who was 'Madara'? Obviously if he'd tried to destroy the world several times he must be bad, but was he really an Uchiha? And what about that other name mentioned- Itachi? They'd called him a demon... What had he done to deserve that name?

Sarada didn't like the way that those men had acted: condescending and foreboding almost. Like they knew some secret that she didn't, and that secret would end with her death.

Somehow, she had a sinking suspicion that her father knew whatever that secret was. They'd called him a criminal- ridiculous! Her father was a good person. Maybe he didn't work well with others and was more of a loner than a leader. But that didn't make him evil.

But a small part of her still held some doubts. She knew next to nothing about her father's past, or the true history of his family. When she was little, all she had been told was that his parents had died when he was a young boy and that was all. But if there was more, if he was lying to her... could she really trust him?

Sarada shook her head slightly, as if to shake out the disloyal thoughts. No, that's probably exactly what those men had wanted, to make her doubt her father. She couldn't lose her faith in him.

"They said they wanted to kill the Uchihas," She said slowly, wanting to gauge his reaction. "They said... They said that Uchihas were too dangerous."

His expression didn't noticeably change as she spoke, but his fists clenched at his sides. Sarada took a deep breath. She had to come out and ask him now or she'd never get the nerve again.

"Father, who are Madara and Itachi?"

Finally she evoked some reaction from him. His eyes widened in shock. His expression immediately became simultaneously angry and hesitant.

"How do you know those names?" He demanded. It was clear that he was upset that she had found out about these people, whoever they were. So he ihad/i been hiding this from her.

"It doesn't matter," Sarada replied, feeling a small twinge of betrayal. "Who are they?"

He took a deep calming breath and leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his forehead with his hand, as if he suddenly had a painful headache.

"I can't tell you that yet," He finally said. "You're not ready."

"Why not!" She protested indignantly. "Do you not trust me? Is that it?"

"No Sarada, I-"

"Because I get the feeling that maybe I've been the one mistrusting you. What sort of things did you really do in the past, huh?" The accusation obviously stung. She could see him cringe at her question. Immediately she felt guilty. What was she doing? She wanted answers, but she didn't want to have to hurt him to get them.

She quickly fled upstairs to her room and slammed the door before he could respond. She knew that she'd be safe to think on her own for a while here and not have to worry about him following her; he usually didn't like to deal with people when they were upset.

Sarada already regretted her words to him. She had been too direct, too aggressive. Perhaps if she'd convinced him calmly he would have been willing to tell her what she wanted to know. She stayed sulking in her room for the rest of the evening, looking out of the window at the moon. She knew her mom had taken the late shift at the hospital tonight so she wouldn't be home until morning. She'd have to ask her about it to. Sarada didn't want to believe that her mom would be as clueless about her father's past as she was.

Suddenly a shadow caught her eye, moving in the darkness. She peered outside and just caught the edge of her father's cloak flapping in the wind before he disappeared into the shadows.

She didn't even hesitate before running downstairs to put on her shoes and following after him. She followed a good distance behind him as he travelled through the trees, knowing that it would be easy for him to notice her if he tried. But Sarada suspected that the emotions she had dredged up were making him lower his guard right now.

He stopped quicker than she had expected. He had arrived in a clearing in the forest. He performed a few quick seals, and a door appeared in the ground. He opened the door and descended down the stairs, to whatever was waiting below. Sarada ached to follow after him, but she knew her best bet was to stay hidden.

He was, again, much quicker than she had expected. He had only been down there for about five minutes before he appeared at the surface again. He did a sealing jutsu to hide the door and was off again in the direction of their home.

Sarada waited in the trees for ten minutes to make sure that he was really gone. Then she emerged from hiding and walked up to the spot he had been standing in. She copied the hand signs that she had seen him use and, sure enough, the door appeared before her. Sarada felt excitement bubble up in her chest as she descended into the darkness. However the stairs weren't very long, and there was only a single room waiting at the end of them, dimly lit by candlelight.

The room was almost empty except for a large stone tablet, which seemed to be the focal point of the room. Sarada walked up to it. The writing was incomprehensible to her. It was either a code or a language that she didn't understand or recognize. She sighed in exasperation. She should have known that getting answers wouldn't be so simple.

Upon further inspection of the room she noticed something she had missed in her first look around. Someone had set up a small shrine in the corner of the room. Fresh incense was burning. There was no picture on it, only an old, rusting Konoha headband with a mark across the leaf.

Sarada got on her knees in front of it and put the palms of her hands together.

"I don't know who you are or why father won't tell me about you," She prayed out loud to whatever spirits might be listening. "But I'm going to find out."

She sighed. The only problem was exactly ihow/i she would find out. She could ask her father again... but she had a feeling that it would be a long time before he was willing to explain anything to her. Sarada stifled a yawn as she stood up to return home. She was too tired to think things through; too much had happened in one day. She'd think on it more once she had a good night's sleep.

There was one blissful moment in the morning when Sarada woke up and didn't remember any of the previous day's troubles. But the memories quickly flooded back, and she was once again filled with determination to find out about the Uchihas and her father's secrets.

Although she doubted she'd get any further, she decided to try asking her father one more time. She at least had to apologize to him for last night, if nothing else.

She found him sitting on the stair of the estate's inner garden. He seemed to be deep in thought, and Sarada almost didn't want to disturb him. She knew that their house was the same one that her father's family had lived in when he was young. Maybe he was remembering his past here.

Sarada wordlessly sat down beside him on the step. He glanced down at her, but also didn't say a word.

"I'm sorry," Sarada finally said. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you. It was immature."

He shook his head. "You had every right to be mad." He said. "I promise I'll tell you everything when you're ready."

Sarada bit her tongue to stop herself from protesting further. It would get her nowhere. She decided to try a different route.

"Can you at least tell me what happened to my eyes?" She questioned. "Suddenly I didn't need my glasses anymore, and I felt a lot stronger too. What happened to me?"

He was quiet for a moment before sighing in defeat. "I suppose I can't keep this from you, too." He muttered. "I had hoped for you to never have to experience this... but now that you have I have to accept it. Yesterday your eyes activated their sharingan."

Sarada blinked at him. "Sharingan?" The foreign word somehow sounded familiar on her tongue.

"It's the dojutsu ability of the Uchiha clan." He explained. "It possesses great power. Only the strongest Uchihas ever master it."

She listened attentively to his words. Knowing what the strange eye power- the sharingan- was made her fear it less. It was a normal power for Uchihas.

"I'm assuming you have one too," She said when he was finished, not even bothering to make it into a question. Of course he would have a powerful technique like this.

In answer, his usually black eyes turned red and a strange black mark surrounded his pupil. "Mine's a bit different from yours," He said. "But yes, I do."

"You mean you can activate it whenever you want?" She asked curiously. She had just assumed that the sharingan only appeared in battle or times of stress.

"You can do it too." He told her. "Go ahead, try it."

She nodded and focused her mind. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she reached deep inside herself, searching for that rush of power that she had felt yesterday. The power seemed eager to answer her call. Her sight shimmered for a brief moment before her vision sharpened. She took off her glasses; sure enough, her sight was still perfect. She looked at her father, who smiled grimly at her.

"As long as you have the sharingan you should practice using it." He reluctantly advised her. "It will give you away as my daughter, but it will help you to protect yourself."

Sarada again focused her mind and her vision turned blurry again. She put her glasses back over her black eyes. She desperately wanted to ask him to help with training her sharingan but she held herself back. Half of her knew that he could greatly help her with it but the other half knew that her father probably hadn't had anyone else to help him with his sharingan. She wanted to accomplish it on her own as well.

"What are you going to tell mom?" She asked, realizing that she would be home any minute.

"I'll tell all of this to her later," He assured her. "But in the future, some conversations might have to stay between the two of us. Some things only Uchihas can truly understand." Sarada knew it was bad of her to think this way, but her sense of pride greatly outdid any guilt she felt that she might have to keep secrets from her mother in the future. She felt like she had a special connection with her father now that she hadn't realized they'd shared before. They were the last Uchihas; they could understand each other in ways no one else could.

"Okay," She said. She wanted to talk to him more but it felt like the conversation was over, and she couldn't think of anything to say to him. She left him still sitting on the step, deep in thought.

Just then she heard the sound of the front door opening and closing.

"I'm home," Her mother called from the front of the house. Sarada perked up at her arrival. She had been disappointed that her father still wouldn't tell her any information, but she'd forgotten her plan to ask her mom about it. She rushed over to her, not wanting him to have his conversation with her first. Sarada gave her a hug to welcome her home which her mom happily returned.

"Ah, it was a long night at the hospital," She muttered, rubbing her neck like there was a kink in it. "I swear, even though the ninja wars are over more people are hurting themselves accidentally just to keep up my workload."

Sarada smiled. Her mom was always grumbling about something back at the hospital, but that was exactly how she knew that she enjoyed working there.

"Mom," Sarada said, deciding to get right to the point. "Can I talk to you?"

Her mother tilted her head to the side curiously. "Of course, sweetie, you know you can talk to me about anything." Sarada led her up to her room so that they could have a private conversation.

Her mom sat on the bed and turned to give a suggestive smile. "So?" She said, leaning forward. "Is it a crush? Which boy is it? Never mind that, just make sure you don't tell your father yet. I'm sure he's give you a hard time about it-"

"God, mom, it's not boys!" Sarada interrupted, her cheeks turning a shade of pink.

"Hm, it's not?" She seemed mildly disappointed, then chuckled softly to herself. "Ah well. What's wrong then?"

Sarada kicked the floor. She couldn't bring herself to meet her eyes. "Are you and father hiding something from me?" She asked. "It's just... I don't know anything about him, or the Uchihas, and he won't tell me. It's infuriating. So I was thinking... maybe you could tell me?" She finally looked up at her mom's face.

Her gossiping smile was gone, replaced with a stern expression. She had such pretty green eyes. Sarada had always been disappointed that she hadn't inherited her mother's eyes. Now she almost wanted to laugh at the irony of it. Inheriting her father's eyes is what had saved her from being killed yesterday.

"Sarada," She began. "When you were very little your father and I decided together how we wanted to raise you. We wanted you to be safe and happy. We didn't want to burden you with-"

"So you wanted me to be ignorant," Sarada seethed. She couldn't help it; she could already tell by her tone of voice what her mom's answer would be.

"No." She said forcefully. "We'll tell you everything when you're old enough, I promise. But it wouldn't be fair of me to share your father's secrets with you. They're his to tell, so he will ultimately decide when you need to know them."

"This is ridiculous!" Sarada exclaimed. "I'm not a child. Why can't you two trust me?"

Her mom shook her head. "It has nothing to do with trust, it's-"

"Whatever," Sarada interjected, grabbing her jacket and marching down the stairs. "I can't be around you two right now."

"Sarada!" She shouted sternly after her, but she was already out the door and running away from the Uchiha estate.

She couldn't believe it. Both of them were conspiring to keep her in the dark. She would expect it from her father, sure, but her loving, honest mother? How could she lie to her own daughter as well? Sarada was too mad to see the reason in their argument. She kept on marching to the place she always went when she was mad and needed to cool down: a small swing in the shade, right across from the ninja academy.

Sarada remembered how, when she and the other children were small, they had all wanted to go on the swing to play. Everyone had been fighting over it. They had all been only five years old, so it seemed like a big deal to them.

"I wanna go, I wanna go!" Himawari, younger than the rest, continued to insist.

"What a drag," Shikaido had complained. "Let's just take turns."

"Then I'll go first!" Chouchou declared.

Inojin gave her a blank stare. "But you'd break the swing, and then the rest of us couldn't use it."

"What was that?!"

"Haha, suckers!" They all turned to look at the swing. While they had been arguing amongst themselves, Bolt had climbed onto the swing and was rocking back and forth on it, having a good time. "Look at your faces! I guess I'm the best ninja here-" They all glanced up as there was a quick snapping sound and the swing broke. Bolt fell down and started crying. He broke his arm and mom had had to fix it for him. None of the kids had ever let him live it down.

Sarada allowed herself to smile at the memory. Uncle Naruto had insisted on replacing the swing with a new one after it broke, even though all of them- fickle little kids that they were- no longer wanted to play on it. And all of the current young children thought the simple swing was boring compared to the newer playgrounds. Sarada was the only one who came by to swing anymore; somehow the gentle swaying always helped to clear her head.

Once her anger had died down, she began to brainstorm once again. Obviously asking her parents directly had proved to be a huge failure. There was no point in persisting in that approach. She would have to find her information another way.

But she knew more than anyone that people weren't the only ones who had valuable information. Since a young age, Sarada had always loved to read books. She liked to tell everyone that she read books on chakra control and ninjutsu to make herself sound cool and smart, but in reality she mostly read stories and legends.

There was a huge library in Konoha that she frequented often. She decided that checking the library records would be the most logical next course of action and decided to go there next.

At the library she went directly to the index and looked of the letter U. She searched all the way down to Uzumaki, but there was no trace of anything relating to Uchiha. But of course it wouldn't be in the public records which were accessible to everyone... If anywhere then the librarian should have them listed in their private records.

Sarada walked up to the librarian's desk. The woman recognized her instantly and smiled at her.

"What can I do for you Sarada?" She asked sweetly.

"Yes... I wanted to check out The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja again but it isn't in it's usual place. Could you help me find it?" The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja was one of Sarada's favorite adventure novels and she often checked it out. The librarian wouldn't suspect anything from this simple request.

The librarian frowned. "That's strange. No one's checked it out." She stood up from behind her desk to go check the book's usual spot. "You wait right here dear, I'll go find it for you."

Sarada smiled sweetly. As soon as the woman's back disappeared behind a bookshelf she dashed behind the desk. She started opening every drawer and flipping through different note books on the desk, but she didn't see any index of restricted books anywhere. She had to hurry or she'd be caught in the act, and then her parents were sure to find out what she'd been up too; that was the last thing she wanted right now.

A light bulb went off in her head suddenly and she reached her hand below the surface of the desk. Her hand found a latch and when she pulled on it a drawer that had looked like just a part of the desk popped open. She hurriedly skimmed through the U sections in the Jounin only sections, but still found nothing. But there was one notebook at the bottom with even stricter access- it was the Hokage's private library. Only the Hokage himself, former Hokages, and Jounin with special permission were allowed to view those records. And just as she had suspected, there was a listing for Uchiha.

She wanted to look through the desk some more to see if there were any codes for how to get into the restricted section, but she heard the librarian's footsteps approaching. And besides, she doubted that a librarian would be trusted with that kind of information anyway. She just had time to close the drawer and go back in front of the desk before the woman returned, one old copy of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja held in her hand.

Sarada thanked the woman and checked out the book as quickly as possible and hurried out of the library. She felt sure that she hadn't been seen, but she still felt uncomfortable staying in the library any further.

But she couldn't help the feeling of excitement that she felt at finally taking a step towards discovering the truth. The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile. All she had to do was figure out a way into the Hokage's private library. There was bound to be insane security, and Sarada had never been good at breaking through protective boundary jutsus. If only there was some way she could get in...

Sarada's smile suddenly froze on her face as she realized the clear solution to this problem. She only knew of one person capable of accessing the Hokage's password and skilled enough to break in. She felt annoyed at just the thought of asking him for a favor, but in this situation she really didn't have a choice if she wanted to see those records.

Sarada didn't want to admit it to herself, but she knew that Bolt Uzumaki was the only person who could help her break in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys! So sorry for the long wait. I guess I was being way too optimistic when I said that I'd be able to update weekly. This is still ongoing but you'll just have to wait a little longer between chapters.**

**I just want to address a couple comments from reviewers who brought up some good points.**

**EvilFuzzy9: I didn't really mean to have Sarada become physically stronger with the sharingan. It was more like, with the power and sight that it gave her, she felt superior to her opponents in terms of skill and that made her feel stronger. But yeah, going back I can see that that didn't really come across well with the way I wrote it.**

**Darth Lelouch and easilyaddictedgirl: I changed the names that Sarada calls her parents on purpose. She calls Sakura mom just because, for me, that flows better than mama and is still casual. She calls Sasuke father to show that she both has a more distant relationship with him and sort of puts him on a pedestal.**

**December 25th and dragonball256: I thought about adding the conversation between Sasuke and Sakura but decided against it. Sorry to disappoint you guys. I think for this fanfiction I really want to focus on the next generation and their story. **

Sarada had been close with Bolt and Himawari Uzumaki when they had been little. Their parents had always been close friends, so they were always left to play off on their own while the adults talked about grown up matters. They'd play Ninja War or compete to see whose ninjutsu was better, which Sarada had always won at. Sarada had fond memories of those times.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with small children who are close friends, they drifted apart over the years. As they progressed through the different levels of the ninja academy that distance only grew. Bolt never cared about being a ninja or studying the ninja arts. After a few arguments over the topic they'd stopped speaking to each other altogether. Himawari, being impressionable and idolizing her older brother, followed Bolt's lead as she gradually made friends with ninjas her own age.

But this time, when Aburame-sensei dismissed the class, she didn't ignore Bolt as usual. She followed him part of the way home, trying not to look suspicious. He was joking around with the youngest Ino-Shika-Cho team for a while, but soon they went their separate ways. He was alone.

Sarada darted forward to catch up with him.

"Hey," She said casually.

He raised an eyebrow at her in pure confusion. "Hey," he replied. He glanced around them on the road, wondering if some kind of surprise attack was about to occur. When the coast seemed to be clear he spoke again. "I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but why are you talking to me?"

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Right to the point, eh? That was fine then. She didn't mind not having to waste time beating around the bush.

Sarada pushed her red glasses forward. "I need a favor."

At this Bolt cracked a smile. "I suspected as much." A smug grin spread across his face. She tried to hide her own smile, which came from knowing that she was already one step ahead of him. "But you know, it's gonna cost you."

"Are you sure?" She asked innocently. "What if this favor happened to be-oh, I don't know... Breaking into the Hokage's private library?"

Bolt immediately perked up, as she knew he would at any mention whatsoever of the Hokage. He still had a long way to go before he would be able to get over that father complex of his. But the thought only made her remember her own largely unsuccessful relationship with her father, and she tried to push it out of her head.

"Sounds like my kind of prank," Bolt admitted with a nod. "But why would a stick in the mud like you want to trespass in one of the most restricted places in the village?"

"I take offense to that," She quipped sharply, but otherwise let the insult go. "I just want to find some information, that's all."

"What kind of information?" He prompted further. Curiosity had clearly gotten the better of him.

"How about this." She stopped walking in the middle of the road so that they could face each other. "After you get us into the library, I'll tell you the information I want. Deal?" She stuck out her hand.

He only hesitated for a second before reaching his hand out to grasp hers.

"Deal."

That night Sarada waited in the shadows of the Hokage's office, tapping her foot impatiently. It shouldn't have surprised her, but Bolt was late. She couldn't help being ticked off by his carefree attitude. Didn't he realize how much trouble they could get into if they were caught? Sure, the Hokage was a nice guy but they still wouldn't get off easily.

Finally she saw a figure jogging towards her in the dark. She pushed up her glasses, readying a biting comment about his timing, when she noticed that there were actually two figures coming towards her. Once they got closer Sarada was able to recognize an exasperated Bolt dragging Himawari by the hand. The younger girl's expression was somehow simultaneously smug and innocent.

"Sarada!" She called excitedly. She ran past her brother to wrap her arms around Sarada's waist in a hug. Sarada hesitated for a moment and then sighed, returning Himawari's hug. She scowled at Bolt over her shoulder but he only shrugged as if to say, 'what could I do?'

"I've missed playing with you," Himawari pulled back and said accusingly. She put on her pouty face, the one that no one in the village, not even the Hokage, could say no to. "I told nii-chan that he had to take me with him to see you or I'd tell mom and dad he was sneaking out." She added, explaining why she was there before Sarada could ask.

"Well, you're here now," Sarada replied in defeat. Himawari was stubborn; telling her to go back home would get them nowhere. "Let's get started." She turned to Bolt and gestured to the building, which was secured with several ninjutsu security systems overnight. "You said you had a way to break through the security?"

"I never said that," He said nonchalantly, an infuriating smile stuck on his face. "I said I could get us in."

Sarada groaned, putting her hands on her hips. "I'd appreciate it if you stopped talking so enigmatically and just did whatever it is that you're going to do."

Bolt rolled his eyes. He started to walk away from the entrance. Sarada was tempted to yell at him for lying but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment. He knelt on the ground and began to draw a symbol in the dirt. It wasn't one that Sarada recognized as one that they had been taught in school. When he was done he dusted off his hands on his knees and stood up.

"Alright." He turned towards Himawari and Sarada and held out his hands. "Grab on."

Himawari cheerfully skipped over to hold her older brother's hand then glanced back at Sarada expectantly. She arched her brow, still unsure of what Bolt had in mind, but held his hand anyway. Bolt closed his eyes and suddenly a cloud of smoke went up around the three of them. Sarada felt suddenly nauseous for a second. The feeling only lasted a moment and when she blinked they were standing in the middle of the Hokage's library, the smoke cloud quickly dissipating around them.

Sarada blinked, uncomprehending. "How did you..." She didn't even finish her sentence before the clear explanation dawned on her. "When did you learn the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

Bolt still had a self-important smirk on his face, a little too proud of himself for being able to accomplish such a technique. "Kakashi sensei taught it to me a little while back." He explained. "Comes in pretty handy, huh?"

"Kakashi?" Their parents' old teacher was like an uncle to all of them and they knew him well. Although recently, with the stress of having been Hokage and old age catching up to him, he was looking more and more like a grandpa. "I would have thought your dad would have taught it to you," She continued. "Wasn't it his dad's technique?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't know it." Bolt continued talking as Sarada started to search through the bookshelves, eager to find the information that she'd come for and get out. Himawari had run off to look for a kids book section and returned looking glum when she realized there was none. "Dad tried to teach me rasengan but I just didn't have a knack for it. Then Kakashi offered to try and teach me what he could of the fourth's techniques." He shrugged. "It just came easier to me."

"But that technique requires a place to be marked before you can teleport there." she protested. "How did you happen to have the Hokage's library marked already?"

"I've got a hidden mark in almost every room in this place. It comes in real handy for pranks you know," He pointed out. "As the Hokage's son I get access to a bunch of rooms in the building. I only managed to sneak in here for about ten seconds before Shikamaru was scolding me and locking me out again, but it was enough time."

Sarada's mouth pressed into a hard line as she skimmed through the different titles. The Flying Thunder God Technique was nothing to scoff at. If Bolt had mastered it already then that meant Sarada was quickly falling behind in terms of power and skill. She mentally took note of this as a motivation to train harder. Especially now that there were people after her and her family, she had to be stronger.

Sarada looked through the entire U section but there was nothing that had the name Uchiha or anything hinting that it might. But that notebook had definitely had described some information on the Uchihas in one of these books somewhere... If only she'd read it more closely!

She dejectedly pulled out a book listing all recent crimes in Konoha in the recent past. She flipped to the U section, hopeful but expecting to be disappointed. She was already beginning to think that this entire scheme had been a terrible idea when her eyes caught the word Uchiha.

There it was, the first listing in the U section of the book. Sarada immediately tensed and leaned forward. She tried to ignore Bolt and Himawari's curious questions about what she was reading; she couldn't wait to finally get some answers about the Uchihas.

The first crime listed was for someone named Itachi Uchiha.

It said that almost thirty years ago he had massacred the entire Uchiha clan in cold blood. for the next few years he committed many other crimes as a member of a terrorist organization called Akatsuki before dying young a short time later.

Sarada frowned. That didn't make any sense. Her father was an Uchiha, so how could this listing say that the entirety of the Uchiha clan had been killed decades ago? She concluded that there must have been some survivors of the massacre which, for some strange reason, the book neglected to mention.

She went on reading and did a double take when she saw the title of the next listing. In black letters at the top of the page it clearly read Sasuke Uchiha.

However the information under his name was devastatingly sparse. The only crime that was described was one of how, when he was still a child, he was deluded into working together with someone named Orochimaru. After that there were a few pages of what was supposed to be crime listings. however it looked like they had been wiped clean and someone had written at the bottom of the last one simply, 'Sasuke Uchiha had been pardoned of all his crimes as an adult for his actions in the Fourth Great Ninja War.'

Equal feelings of accomplishment and disappointment assailed her. This was invaluable information that gave her a good start for discovering her father's secrets. But now all Sarada could think about was learning the rest of it. Who was this Orochimaru character? What crimes had her father committed? What he done in the Fourth Great Ninja War that warranted him having several page's worth of crimes pardoned?

At least one of those questions, thankfully, Sarada could find an immediate answer to. Flipping to the O section she easily found the page on Orochimaru. It was impossible to miss really. His entry was almost a dozen pages long, probably the longest one in the whole book.

Sarada only skimmed through the crimes, feeling disgusted at what she was reading. Much of it had to do with human experimentation and other taboo practices. She couldn't imagine what her father could have gained from working with such a man.

Towards the end of the section on Orochimaru there was a description of several reconnaissance missions to spy on him and a set of directions to his last known residence. It was in the mountains, a good distance away but still only about a couple days' journey if one was going fast enough. The entry had been updated with that information less than a year ago so it was likely that he was still in the same location. This time of year the mountains wouldn't be as treacherous as in the winter. A million different plans and factors started swimming in her mind, unbidden. She couldn't help but think that the obvious next course of action was to find this Orochimaru and get more information directly from him. The main flaw with that, of course, was whether or not that information would be trustworthy or not...

"Oy," Bolt interrupted her daydreaming in annoyance. He took her glasses to prevent her from continuing to read, effectively forcing her to turn her attention back to him. "I've been reading over your shoulder so I get the gist of it." She tried to make a grab for her glasses but he held them just out of reach. "You want to go find this Orochimaru guy, right?"

Sarada arched an eyebrow. "And?"

"And you'll need some help if you want to confront a maniac like that."

She made a scoffing noise. "And you want to help me? Is that it?"

"Not just me!" He retorted defensively. "I meant that that a bunch of us should go and help. InoShikaCho, Lee, most of the others would be willing to come I bet."

Sarada was quiet for a moment, contemplating. He had a point. Realistically, this kind of mission would be much more suited for a group. But whether or not they would be dependable comrades was another matter.

"Himawari too!" Himawari piped up enthusiastically. "I want to help catch Omochirawu!"

Sarada sighed and ruffled the girl's short, purple hair. "I'll consider it," She relented. She took out the blank notebook that she'd brought with her. With a simple jutsu, she copied the entries on Orochimaru, Itachi, and Sasuke perfectly onto the empty pages. "But for now lets call it a night. I've what I came for and I don't want to risk getting caught any longer than necessary."

Bolt nodded and teleported the three of them back outside. Once they checked to see that there was no one around they went their separate ways home, Himawari turning and waving happily until she was out of sight. Those Uzumakis. They sure were an eccentric bunch.

Sarada passed out into her bed as soon as she got home. The mental anxiety of the night had worn her out completely. It seemed like only seconds later that sunlight was filtering through her windows, signaling the beginning of another day.

She tried to sleep in, even though she almost never did so, but a pair of hands were soon shaking her shoulders.

"Time to get up honey," Her mom reminded her. "Are you feeling okay? You're never this tired in the morning."

Sarada sat up and stretched with a yawn. "Yeah... I think I'll stay home from the academy today." She leaned backwards to go back to sleep but her mom's hand caught her shoulder again.

"That's fine," She said. "But I actually came in here to talk to you about something."

Sarada felt a sense of dread filling her stomach. Her father had told her about everything that had happened in the woods, hadn't he? What was her mom going to say about it? "What is it?" She asked, not looking forward to hearing the answer.

"I'm pregnant."

Sarada blinked up at her. This was definitely not the conversation that she's been expecting.

"Uh...Does dad know?"

"Yes."

"And did he also tell you about... I mean-"

"Yes, I know all about the incident in the forest too."

Sarada was at a loss for words for a moment before she finally found her tongue again. "Mom, that's great and everything but... aren't you worried?" Sakura's tone was very calm and relaxed while she said all of this, but Sarada was just starting to put all of the puzzle pieces together in her mind and didn't like the picture they formed one bit. Now her mom would be in danger from those Uchiha-hating people too. Much more in danger from them than she would have been before at least.

"I can't lie and say that I'm not at all worried," She said. "But I know that everything will be fine. This village is one of the safest places in the world now. It'll be a bit annoying to not be able to go on missions outside of the village for nine months, but that's what I'll have to do."

Some of the nervous tension in Sarada's shoulders relaxed slightly at her mom's reassurances, but her worry didn't completely disappear. For the moment, though, she decided that she should be happy, for her mom's sake at least.

"Wow, so I'll be a big sister," She thought aloud. She pictured sweet little Himawari and looked forward to having a sweet younger sibling of her own. "I hope it's a girl."

"Really?" Her mom said, smiling that her older daughter was excited to have another sibling. "I kind of hope it's a boy."

Sarada smiled back at her. "Which does dad want?" She asked.

"He doesn't care about that kind of thing," she said. "As long as it's a healthy baby he'll be happy, and so will I." She leaned forward to kiss Sarada on the forehead. "I just couldn't wait til tonight to tell you." She got up and walked towards the door. "It's fine if you stay home. I'll be at the hospital and your dad's helping out the Hokage today, but I think you'll be just fine on your own." She gave a small wave and went out the door.

Sarada laid back on her bed and looked at the ceiling. Now that she was alone, she could think through more of what this meant. Her mom seemed confidant that they would be able to handle any danger that might come their way. But a fierce sense of protectiveness was already forming in Sarada for her younger sibling. She didn't want to take any risks. Maybe staying in the village to protect her family would be better than finding some old nut job just to get some answers.

Sarada glanced at the directions to Orochimaru's hideout that she had copied from the library last night. Her resolve still uncertain, she placed it under her bed and tried to go back to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the long wait everyone. I'll update when I can but I'm pretty busy. Now to respond to some reviews!**

**sawrhur: Thank you for pointing that out! I wanted them to be in the academy but I got the age wrong. ^^' I went back and changed that line to say 12.**

**Shisui's Crow: Aw, thanks! It makes me so happy to hear that I'm writing these characters well. I've decided that there really won't be a lot of BoltxSarada going on soon. I absolutely agree that it's unrealistic for that to happen when they're 12 and romance isn't my priority in this story.**

**swsk117 and The Amol: Thank you for being rational and pointing out that some things didn't make sense. I guess I just thought 'wouldn't it be cool if the kids met Orochimaru?' and set that up. I hope I fixed that up in this chapter**

**As for Bolt having FTG, I just didn't want him to have rasengan like Naruto because I thought that would be too predictable and cliche. So I basically just replaced rasengan with FTG. I assumed that the two jutsus were about equal in power/ difficulty, and Naruto could use rasengan at that age so I didn't think it was a problem. Is FTG really that much harder than rasengan? I'm not going to change that about him at this point, but that was basically my thought process when I gave it to him.**

Sarada tried to put everything out of her mind. Over the next few days she continued to go to the academy and train as usual. Nothing of much importance happened, which helped to ease Sarada's mind.

After a week of thinking it over Sarada felt that she had finally come to a reasonable conclusion to her dilemma: she would not pursue her search for answers any further at the current time. Looking back at herself, she felt almost ashamed at how greedy and desperate she'd been for the truth. She'd been willing to violate her father's wishes and go off on a dangerous mission just to satisfy her own curiosity. She thought of all of her actions with embarrassment.

Her curiosity had by no means been sated. However, the realization that she would have a younger sibling had helped to cool her head and set her priorities straight. The past was said and done; it would still be there to learn months or years from now, or whenever it was that her father intended to tell her about it. What she should be focusing on was the present.

Sarada got ready for the academy with a feeling as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. With the baby coming, her father was also sticking around most of the time, only going off on shorter missions from time to time and coming right home. It felt like they were finally acting like a real family, and Sarada felt thrilled.

"I'm off to work," Sakura called casually. She gave a quick kiss to Sarada, who was just finishing her breakfast, as she passed by. She was wearing her white coat and had her hair tied back. She wasn't showing yet, but Sarada still felt extremely proud of her mom as she walked out the door for the hospital; even when she was pregnant, she was continuing her duties as head medical nin of the village.

Sarada put her dishes into the sink. She grabbed her school bag and was walking towards the door when there was a loud 'boom' from right outside the house. The room shook slightly, as if from an earthquake, before settling down. With the thought that her mom had just walked outside seconds before, Sarada rushed outside to see what the commotion was.

There was a fight occurring right in front of their home. Too shocked to react right away, Sarada paused and took in the scene. Her mother was surrounded by about a dozen ninjas, all without headbands. There was a large crater that her mom seemed to be at the center of. Dust was still falling in the area and some of the ninjas who had been blown back from the blast were still getting to their feet again.

Sarada didn't even have time to wonder what on earth had caused the blast and the crater. One ninja, who must not have been very bright, ran forward to challenge Sakura alone. Her fist connected with his stomach and he went flying backwards several meters. He didn't move anymore after that.

Sarada gulped. When she had heard that her mother was strong, she thought that people meant that she could win against most ninjas in a fist fight, not that she could cause earthquakes with her fists. Sarada silently vowed never to disobey her mom again.

The other ninjas became more cautious after seeing their comrade get punched. They edged around the crater, wary but looking for an opening. Finally Sakura saw Sarada out of the corner of her eye.

"Sarada, get back in the house now," She commanded and then charged at her enemies.

Sarada saw that her mom really was a strong fighter, but she was clearly outnumbered. She was facing ninjas of skill, and ones who were very aware now of avoiding her strikes. Although she landed a punch now and then, they were mostly able to evade her fists. A few of them brought out special rope ninja tools, ones that would automatically tighten when rapped around an opponent. Her mom had managed to dance around them so far but Sarada saw that it would only be a matter of time before she was overrun by them.

Sarada took a deep breath and concentrated, just like her father had told her. She'd been practicing forming her Sharingan and could now summon it at will, even if she didn't necessarily know how to use it. But when she opened her eyes she could see it. She could see the large amount of chakra going back and forth as the fight continued.

She charged into the fray. Luckily for her, the ninjas wither hadn't noticed her or were simply too preoccupied with fighting her mom, although Sarada guessed it was mostly the latter. She was able to land a few kicks and spew fire at a few of them before they really took note of her presence. Unfortunately, she didn't have the same monstrous strength as her mom and all this did was knock the fiends backwards momentarily.

As one took a step towards her a fist suddenly rammed into his side and he went flying into the distance. Her mom rushed towards her, an angry but determined look on her face.

"You are so grounded when this is over, young lady," She said seriously. "I told you to get back in the house."

"And I couldn't just leave you to fend for yourself," Sarada retorted. They were back to back now, surrounded by the enemies. Half or more of them were gone, but the remaining ones were clearly the better fighters of the group. Now that she had a small reprise from the fighting, Sarada was able to notice that although none of them were wearing headbands, they were all wearing armbands with the same symbol on it. The symbol looked like a sideways S with a short line down the center.

Sarada heard her mom take a deep breath. "Just please don't get hurt," She murmured, deep fear and concern saturating her voice.

Sarada didn't have time to reassure her, as the fighting resumed again. They were quickly split up again into two separate fights. Sakura was holding her own against five of the ninjas farther away while only one had been sent to deal with Sarada. Sarada couldn't help but be offended by the fact that they thought only one of them was enough to handle her. Didn't they know that she was the last Uchiha? She felt her anger grow that they were underestimating her.

The ninja lunged forward. Sarada managed to raise a kunai to block it but barely dodged when he subsequently attacked with his other hand. His blade grazed her arm before she could jump away. The wound was shallow and didn't bother her much but Sarada's confidence was shaken. He was fast. Maybe she really wasn't ready to face opponents like these on her own.

Sarada couldn't even spare a glance to see how her mom's fight was going- for now the ninja was standing back and waiting, but the second she looked away she knew he would go for the kill once again.

She had to come up with something clever, some kind of trick. That was the only way someone as inexperienced as her could beat an opponent with an adult ninja's skill. She focused her senses, honing her sharingan and sharpening her vision.

The man finally became too impatient to wait around for an opening and charged forward. Sarada panicked and threw her kunai at him but he easily deflected it. With a victorious smile, he stabbed her through the chest. Sarada fell backwards with a gasp, coughing up blood. The man turned away to join his comrades, who were doing poorly in their fight against Sakura. He didn't notice the Sarada's form dissolving into a mass of red butterflies. They dispersed into the air until all that was left was a bloodless sword lying on the ground.

The real Sarada picked up the sword, excitement and nerves flooding her senses. Her plan had worked, but this fight still wasn't over yet. Using every skill of stealth and silence that she'd learned at the ninja academy, she ran up from behind and stabbed him cleanly in his heart. He fell forward and didn't make another move.

Sarada looked up, ready to rush to her mom's aid, only to realize that her help wasn't necessary. Her mom punched the second to last ninja in the gut and sent him flying backwards into a wall, which cracked as he landed against it. The last man standing seemed to hesitate before performing a quick hand seal and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

As soon as he was gone Sakura's gaze turned in Sarada's direction, relief breaking out on her face at seeing her relatively unharmed. She rushed forward and embraced her daughter in a hug.

"Are you alright sweetie?" She asked, stroking Sarada's hair. She pulled back suddenly, still grasping Sarada by her shoulders. "Don't you ever ignore my instructions again, do you hear me?" She had a fierce expression on her face but Sarada could see tears in the corner of her eyes. Sarada realized how worried her mom had been that she would have been killed and immediately nodded her agreement.

Sakura took a deep breath and then straightened. "You'll be skipping school today," She announced in a tone that left no room for arguments. "Instead, you'll come with me. We'll have to report this to the Hokage."

Sarada wasn't allowed to go into the Hokage's office while her mom and all of the adults talked about everything. She tried not to be annoyed by it, but she couldn't help it. After all, she'd managed to defeat a full grown ninja all on her own. Didn't she deserve a little respect for that?

"Ouch!" She yelped as Tsunade applied some healing chakra to the wound on her arm.

"Oh, don't be a baby," Tsunade scolded her affectionately. "It's really nothing to worry about. But your worry wart of a mother insisted that I see to the wound anyway."

Now that her mom was the village's head medical nin, Tsunade didn't technically have to hang around the hospital but she still enjoyed healing patients. Sarada liked Tsuande a lot. She had a motherly relationship with Sakura and so she acted somewhat like a second grandmother to Sarada. Nowadays, her age was finally starting to show a bit more and make her look more grandmotherly. But despite the wrinkles on her face Sarada could clearly see what a beauty she had been years ago.

"There," She said, finishing putting a bandage around the cut area. "It's completely disinfected but we'll put a bandage on it just to be safe."

"Thanks," Sarada replied, giving the older woman a quick hug and then leaving the medical ward.

Sarada waited anxiously in the lobby of the building for the adult ninjas' meeting to be over. Thankfully, it was only a short while later that she saw her parents walking towards her, still in a conversation with the Hokage. Sarada was surprised to see that her father was holding her mom's hand as they walked. She couldn't remember him ever using such affectionate gestures as that, especially not in public. She felt bad for him, thinking of how worried he must have been after hearing about what had happened.

The adults' conversation was cut short when Sarada marched over to stand in front of them, her arms crossed over her chest. She knew that it was immature of her but she couldn't help being impatient. Clearly they were talking about some serious, important matters and they were keeping her out of the loop.

"Hey kiddo!" Uncle Naruto broke out his goofy grin and bent down to mess up her hair. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," She answered quickly. She tried to sound casual. She couldn't let the adults see how badly her nerves had been shaken from the fight, otherwise they'd still see her as a child and never tell her what was going on.

"Yeah?" He asked. "Well that's good. I hear that you did an awesome job taking down one of those guys, huh?"

Sarada smiled contentedly at the praise. Even if he was just goofy Uncle Naruto, he was still the Hokage and praise from him should be valued. But outwardly she merely shrugged. "I suppose," She quipped indifferently. "But most of it was mom."

He laughed at her response, then bent closer and put a hand in front of his mouth. "Yeah, I guess in this case it's a good thing that you're mom's so scary. But be careful, the next time you don't listen to her she might do to you what she did to those other ninjas." He mock whispered to her. Sarada nodded gravely.

"Naruto..." Her mom growled threateningly.

"Hey I was just warning her," He said, standing up again and putting his hands up in surrender. Then he became more serious again. "I'll speak to you guys again later. For now this is all we can do."

He patted her father's shoulder once and then made his way back in the direction of the Hokage's office.

"What's Uncle Naruto talking about?" Sarada asked as soon as he was gone. "What were you talking about with him and the other jonin?"

Her father surprised her by not answering her questions, but instead giving her hug. She couldn't remember the last time she'd received a hug from her father, not that she minded. In fact, she rather liked it.

"Let's go home," He said after a little while. "I think you two have had a pretty eventful day today. We'll talk about it with you tomorrow, okay?"

Sarada frowned. She wanted to say that no, it was not okay with her to wait until tomorrow. But he was acting so unusually caring today, and he looked pretty stressed too. So she just nodded her assent and walked home with her parents.

Later that night, Sarada lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. It was probably the middle of the night by now, but of course she couldn't fall asleep. Her thoughts were preoccupied with suspicions of those men that had attacked them. Clearly she and her mom had been specifically targeted; no one else in the village had been attacked by the ninjas at all.

The answer was clear, but she still wished that her parents would just tell her directly. Those men were clearly from the same group that wanted to kill the Uchihas, the ones that had tried to kill her in the forest just a week earlier. After that attack Sarada had been worried, but she'd at least assumed that her mom, who wasn't an Uchiha by blood, would be safe for them. Now she scolded herself for her naiveté. Why would people like that, who were willing to kill children, show mercy to anyone? The news that her mom was pregnant again probably only cemented her mom's place on their hit list.

She was still pondering over what could be done about this terrorist group when she heard a voice come from the window.

"Could you spare a minute to chat?" The voice asked in a friendly enough tone.

Sarada bolted out of bed and faced the window in a defensive stance. The man standing in the window has short, black hair and looked old, probably a little older than her parents. A blindfold was wrapped around his face, covering his eyes. Sarada noticed the same symbol of a sideways S with a slash down the middle on his blindfold and immediately tensed. She was about to yell to wake up her parents, but hesitated. Clearly he hadn't come here to kill her, otherwise he could have just done that while she was sleeping... So what did he want?

"Who are you?" Sarada asked, ignoring his question. "And what do you want?"

"Right to the point, eh?" He asked with a chuckle. "You can call me Talaba. As you've probably guessed by now, I'm the leader of the group that wants to get rid of all of the Uchihas."

Sarada narrowed her eyes, waiting for him to state his purpose.

"What I want," He said finally. "Is to negotiate with you."

This wasn't what Sarada expected at all. "You... want to negotiate? But why? About what?"

He smiled. "I've heard that you're a very practical girl, Sarada," He said. "I believe that, unlike your father, there's hope for you yet. I'd be willing to work out an alternative- a way to keep the world safe from you Uchihas without killing you."

Sarada couldn't guess what this man was thinking, but if he was offering to cease all attempts to kill her and her family, Sarada was interested. "I'm listening," She prompted.

"Well, I can't really discuss here," He said almost apologetically. Suddenly his form flickered, almost like it wasn't really there. "This is just a projection of myself. If I had come here in person you're parents certainly would have sensed my presence and ruined our conversation." He looked around the room. "Do you have a paper and pen? You might want to write down what I'm about to say."

Sarada didn't move an inch from where she stood. "Go ahead. I'll remember it."

The man shrugged and went on. "I would like to negotiate things with you- you alone, not your father or mother or anyone else from Konoha. I'd like to meet you at the peak of the Eastern Mountain, in the mountain range of the Land of Lightning. I have a hideout at the peak that you should be able to find. I'll be waiting there in four days' time if you want to meet me." His form flickered again. "It seems I am out of time. But it was nice to meet you, Sarada Uchiha." And with that, his image faded out for good.

Sarada didn't move for a minute after he left. But finally she slid to her knees on the floor, completely stressed out and exhausted by all of the events of the day. She crawled into her bed and pushed everything out of her mind. Only a few seconds later she slipped into a deep sleep.


End file.
